An alumna of Clarion West Writer’s Workshop for science fiction and fantasy, I’ve written for markets like The New York Times and Time Out New York. Currently, I write about sci-fi for Blastr. I also edit the humor competition for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. You can follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and here at Forbes.

Review: LEGO Lord of the Rings

Several give you the talent of another character. Forge mithril spring boots, and anyone can jump as high as an elf. Mithril boxing gloves turn anyone into a strong character. A mithril “disco” phial lets anyone light up dark caves, which otherwise only Frodo can enter…after he gets the phial in Lothlorien, that is.

I’ll let you discover what the disco part means for yourself.

In free play, you’ll get a selection of characters with the required abilities to access the whole level (more on this later). But giving Gandalf mithril climbing boots to scale walls, and leaving Gollum, behind adds a nice level of levity to the game.

There’s a downside to this awesomeness: If you’re playing in co-op mode and one of you is crafting an item, the crafting cutscene takes over the entire screen. So if the other player was almost but not quite finished with a complex sequence of events, well, there’s nothing you can do but start over…after getting out your frustration on some poor innocent rocks.

Inventory

To handle all these items, both forged and found, LEGO Lord of the Rings introduces a simple inventory system that allows characters to switch between weapons, collect objects like firewood, and even assemble compound objects like fishing rods. The toolkit, available in the open world and free play, gives you access to all your forged items and their abilities. Thankfully, while every quest giver wants a specific version of an item like a bow, any bow will give you the ability to chuck Legolas and replace him with the more awesome Galadriel.

The inventory system works well enough, but the order seems rather random and unhelpful: It’s frustrating that the objects you’ll want to actually use most often, like the rope, are buried in the stack and not at the top where they’re more quickly accessible. Worse, if you’re playing co-op, the whole inventory won’t fit on the screen, causing you to hunt around scrolling icons.

On the up side, this means accessing the inventory doesn’t interrupt the other player. Unlike forging. [Insert harsh language here.]

What I liked

LEGO Lord of the Rings looks great, melding the films with LEGO aesthetics remarkably well. The game is filled with trademark LEGO humor but doesn’t detract from the story’s more serious moments.

Ask my husband: I hate reading maps. But the map here is invaluable, especially in the open world. It lists all the quests, mithril bricks, and additional characters you can buy for a stud fee, so you’ll never be stuck wondering what to do next. Unless you like to explore, in which case you can ignore it. This open world game gives you perfect freedom.

In LEGO Batman, I noticed that one player could make off with all the studs while a second player could only watch and wait. LEGO Lord of the Rings, however, does a reasonably good job at keeping both players occupied at the same time.

What I didn’t like

LEGO Lord of the Rings actually suffers from following the film too closely. In the first scene, we’re thrown into a boss fight, something that new players may find intimidating. (And strangely, I felt I hadn’t “earned” this boss fight.)

Every character in LEGO Lord of the Rings has their own personal inventory. In a large party like the fellowship, it’s difficult to know which character has which widget. For example, I had to scroll through each of my characters’ inventories to see who had picked up a bundle of sticks.

In the open world, every character has access to the main inventory, which include the forged mithril items. As mentioned above, scrolling through this huge list is slightly irritating, especially in co-op, although you do get quicker with time.

Unlike the inventory, both forging AND accessing the map that I love so much while in co-op mode takes over the entire screen. Really, there were multiple times when I called up the map and my husband was in the middle of a timed puzzle, and vice versa, and we had to start over again. It’s annoying as hell. (Co-op players, make sure you tell your partner you need the map before you call it up.)

Some of the boss fights just aren’t that interesting. Mostly, they involve a lot of running around while waiting for the boss to get into a vulnerable state.

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